Brandy Futrell remembers going to Wheels Skating Rink nearly every weekend from the time she was 12 until she was 17.

For her, the announcement that the longtime skating rink would be closing its doors for good on Dec. 31 was “heartbreaking.”

The 36-year-old Jacksonville resident was among those who were shocked by the announcement, especially since, she said, it was a rare occasion to hear of any problems there.

“I guess that’s why my parents would let me hang out there, because there was never trouble.

And now Jacksonville has nothing for the youth to do, and they wonder why the youth is getting in trouble,” Futrell said, adding she plans to visit her old hangout, a place she describes as a family friendly hang out where people could hold birthday parties and learn how to skate.

“I did not know how to skate until I started going to Wheels … I was 12 years old and they taught me how to skate. They taught my son, my son is 17, and they taught him how to skate,” Futrell said.

The rink, she said, “where everybody was at on Friday and Saturday nights,” Futrell said. She has fond memories of attending all-night skates there growing up.

“Those were awesome because you got locked inside and you weren’t allowed to go outside until the next morning when your parents picked you up,” she said.

The skating rink is closing at the end of its lease, which expires Dec. 31 but won’t be renewed. Debra Pierce, president of Technical Monitoring Service, the corporation that owns Wheels, said that as part of her 1992 divorce agreement, the property belongs to her ex-husband, Wayne Pierce. He said that he does not currently have any plans for the building.

Brandy Schmidt, 38, has lived in the Jacksonville area for six years and has been a frequent Wheels customer. Her daughter’s 12th birthday party was held there two years ago and she can remember staff allowing her daughter to go in the DJ booth and announce her song, the “Happy Birthday” song, which was also sung to her.

“It was just a great time, everybody had a great time ... It was a memory that she is going to treasure even more now that the skating rink is not going to be there,” she said.

Schmidt said it was “a shock” when she read the Facebook update detailing the rink’s pending closure.

“We’re going to be really sad to see it close, and we hope that someone answers the prayers of the teens and pre-teens and young kids alike and bring something into this area that will fit the needs,” she said.

Schmidt said she is concerned that the closure will leave area teens with one less safe place to go.

Page 2 of 3 - “They’re going to get bored and when kids get bored, there’s trouble,” she said, explaining that she’s hoping her children will invite their friends to the house and, when possible, she’ll bring them to the skating rink in Wilmington.

“It’s really difficult with Recreation Station closing a few years ago and now Wheels closing,” she said. “We really have to explore ways for our teens to be entertained and stay out of trouble.”

In the meantime, Schmidt plans to bring her daughter to Wheels nearly every weekend until its final one to see friends that aren’t in her school district.

“It’s a family fun environment where kids can be kids. There’s no public displays of affection allowed so it’s not this place the kids are going and doing things they shouldn’t be doing. They’re able to go and have good wholesome fun,” she said.

Pierce said it hurt her heart to make the announcement that Wheels would be closing.

“I have cried about it a bunch but it’s just the way it is I guess,” she said.

She said that the rink will have its traditional New Year’s Eve skate beginning at 7 p.m. Dec. 31 and going until 1 a.m. Jan. 1.

She plans to attend with her 7-year-old grandson, Cameron.

Wheels owner Debra Pierce would not have predicted that the skating rink would be in business nearly 23 years after a soggy opening day that “rained cats and dogs.”

“I cried half the night because I just knew that our grand opening was going to be a great big flop,” she said.

Instead, the rink welcomed 400 people and reached capacity.

“We had to close doors and we couldn’t let any more people in, and that was kind of the response we got then in January of ’91,” she said.

Pierce said that her time at Wheels has kept her young.

“It was fun and I think that working with kids kind of keeps you young,” she remembered. “Of course I had to learn the music because I hadn’t been on the top 40 in so long, but I started listening to it when I got the idea to do Wheels. So it got to where I knew the music, me and my best friend Sharon Edwards. We had so many men tell us we couldn’t do it, there was no way two women could run a skating rink and maintain peace in there but we did.”

Since then, the rink has held special skates for couples, students and more. Pierce said she and her staff created games and encouraged kids to dance in the rink, including doing the hokey pokey.

Page 3 of 3 - “I just loved the kids and I just loved my work … It’s a place where you can’t walk into work for a few minutes and then walk out,” she said. “ … When you walk in you don’t want to leave.”

Hours before Wheels closes

Wheels will be open 7 to 10 p.m. Fridays; 1 to 3 p.m., 3:30 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 11 p.m. on Saturdays; and 2 to 5 p.m. Sundays until Dec. 31. For more information, call 910-455-8711.

Amanda Hickey is the government reporter at The Daily News. She can be reached at amanda.hickey@jdnews.com.